A need exists for identifying and tracking domesticated animals such as used in commercial businesses such as those involving dairy and beef cattle, sheep, hogs, horses, goats, llamas, birds, etc. Marking personal property such as tools and machines essential to the operation of a business is common. However, there is currently no available system for identifying which animals belong to a particular owner and the location of that owner. This information would be helpful in the recovery of lost or stolen animals to return the missing animals to their rightful owner, as well as for identifying the owner or source of animals having a dangerous disease which may threaten humans or other animals. The need for this type of system as a high priority became clear with the recent “mad cow” disease threat in the beef industry. Information as to the source and history of a diseased animal could be vitally important in locating and identifying the origin of a dangerous and possibly economically devastating animal disease, as well as for limiting exposure of humans and animals which might be potentially affected by the disease. This important information is currently not available to any government or regulatory body for use in preventing or combating a dangerous animal epidemic. In addition, a centralized animal identification and security system would facilitate the return of lost/stolen animals to their rightful owner as well as the transfer of ownership of animals by using a single database which is easily updated and universally accessible to provide realtime animal ownership information.
The present invention also addresses the need for a centralized, universal system for maintaining ownership information for items of personal property by providing a personal property security system, and method therefor, which provides for the centralized recording and storage of ownership information relating to personal property items as well as to the permanent marking of ownership indicia on the item. Furthermore, a universal system is needed which is capable of uniquely identifying and locating the owner of an item of personal property and storing this information in a manner which is easily accessible to anyone regardless of where the person resides or is located.
The present invention addresses the aforementioned limitations of the prior art by providing an animal identification and security system and method which assigns an identifying code uniquely associated with each animal owner member as well as each individual animal owned by the member. This identification and security system and method is particularly adapted for use with commercial animals used in the conduct of a business such as cattle, hogs, sheep, horses, etc. The animal identification and security system provides for the centralized recording and storage of ownership information relating to animals as well as to the permanent marking of ownership indicia on each animal. Ownership indicia includes information relating to the state, county and township of residence or location of the animal owner and the owner's ranch or farm, as well as the particular type of animal, the specific animal in each owner's herd/flock, and the country of origin of each animal. This information is maintained in a computerized system at a central location and is made available on a global information network to disseminate this animal owner information on a worldwide basis to facilitate the return of lost or stolen animals to the rightful owner. Another embodiment of this invention contemplates a personal property security system and method therefor wherein the same type of information is affixed to items of personal property and is also available on a global information network for worldwide dissemination to facilitate the recovery and return of lost or stolen articles of personal property to the rightful owner.